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Over 629 reviews forVian Basement Remodeling Contractors from people just like you.

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"I can not say enough about the work

did on the remodel of our bathroom! They were professional, responsive, always on time, and stuck to" ...More their estimate. From the estimate, to the design, to the construction, to the closeout we could not be happier with the way we were treated. They also provided a free 3-D picture of the space which really helped us envision what the bathroom would look like when it was done. My wife and I don't always agree and having that picture made the decisions we had to make much easier. I would absolutely recommend this company for any remodeling project. First class all the way!

-Daniel S.

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"Easy to make an appointment. Great communication via email or cell phone. Very reliable - they appear on time, call when they are going to be late. Great subcontractors" ...More -good workmanship and everyone is polite. They clean up when they're done. Will do business with

Get use out of every square inch of your house and add value to your home by finishing your basement space. Remodeling your basement can add a family room, in-home theater, kid's play area or a guest suites for the in-laws.

Inspiration & Ideas

Angie's Answers

An itemized list / cost breakdown, more often than not is used against the contractor when it is shared with other builders who will then beat it.

Good contractors use good people, and good people cost more. Just the cost of having the appropriate insurance / bond can be the difference between winning a job or losing it ot a 'lower bid'.

It is the rule of three; there is Good, Cheap and Fast. You can have any two: Good and Cheap, won't be Fast; Good and Fast, won't be Cheap; Cheap and Fast, won't be Good!

When comparing bids, it isn't the cheapest or the 'nicest' person you should select. You should understand why there is a large price difference (it shows there are gaps in your design program or what you have asked for specifically, which means there may be arguments later). If most of the bids are in line, and one is way high or way low, you want to know why before dismissing or selecting them.

No. Heck no. Here's a good example. We very recently needed to find someone to install about 500 square feet of exotic wood flooring (we already have the materials). We contacted about 12-15 top-rated Angieslist contractors. Out of the few who did get back to us, we got 5 quotes, 2 of them were literally just over the phone. They "didn't feel it would be necessary to even see the space".

Here were the bids:

$4000 (sight unseen), $2800 (sight unseen), $2500, $1500, $1450

We didn't "share our budget for this". Why would we? We asked them to bid the job. That's it. All of them should be well-qualified and they are all highly rated. We were interested in how THEY value their time/resources - for an apples/apples job.

Do you still think that you should tell them about your budget? Your choice. From my standpoint it isn't their business. I'm asking them to bid on a project. Invariably I'll get some very high bids, medium bids and a few more reasonable ones - ALL from "highly rated contractors".

Herlonginc's answer stated that it is not the contractor's job to pay for materials and labor to do the job. I say baloney - a reputable, established contractor has the funds (or a business operations line of credit) to "carry" the job between interim or partial payments, each of which should be keyed to completion of distinct easily measured mileposts in the job, and for a homeowner I would say should be in not more than 20% increments for jobs exceeding a week or so. For shorter jobs, then an initial payment, 50% completion, and completion would be normal. His cost of carry funds is part of his cost of doing business, and is figured as part of his overhead.Bear in mind when he is buying materials and paying labor, his materials he typically pays for on a 10-30 day invoice, and his labor typically a week or two after they work, so he is not really "fronting" that much money if you are giving him weekly or biweekly interim payments, on a typical residential job.

If he does not have the funds to buy materials (excepting possibly deposit on special-order or luxury items, which still typically are 10-30 day invoiceable to him) and hire personnel then he is a fly-by-night operation, and he should not be bidding that size job. You should never (other than MAYBE an earnest deposit of not more than the LESSER of 10% or $5000) let the payments get ahead of the approved/inspected work progress - typically payment should be 10-20% BEHIND the progress, with at least 10% retained at the effective end of work until final inspections and completion of the final "punchlist".

That promotes rapid continuation of the work, discourages the all-too common nightmare of contractors taking on more work than they can handle so they leave your job for weeks or months to go work on someone else's job (frequently to start that someone else's new job so he can get the job), and does not leave you out a tremendous amount of cash if he does not finish and you have to hire another contractor to finish the job. Remember, if you have to hire a new contractor to finish the job, he will charge you a lot more than the original bid to finish someone else's unfinished mess.

This may seem cynical, but having started in the construction business about 50 years ago and seeing the shenanigans that a lot of contractors pull you cannot be too safe. You have to remember contractors are like any other people - I would say maybe 10% are outright crooks, another 25% or so will pull a fast one or overcharge if the opportunity presents itself, maybe 30% will do the work but not any better than they are forced to, about 25% are good conscientious reputable workmen, and the last 10% or so are really spectacular - conscientious, fair, and efficient craftsmen. This top 35% are the only ones you should have bidding in the first place. Therefore, only get bids from long-term reputable firms (so you shake out the marginal short-timers with less experience and also generally less ability to finish the job on budget and schedule), only those that have good RECENT references, and preferably with excellent word-of-mouth recommendation from people you know and trust. That way, you are starting right off with the cream of the crop, so hopefully whichever one bids low should be a good choice.

NEVER start with bids, then check the references of the low bidder - why even consider a vendor or contractor who you do not have faith in from the start ? Get references and short-list you possibles BEFORE you ask for bids.

Low bids - that is another matter - commonly the low bidder is NOT who you want, especially if he is significantly lower than several others, which might mean he is desperate for work, made a math error, or did not correctly figure the entire scope of work. You want a reasonable bid with someone you connect with and trust - that is worth a lot more in the success of the job than the absolute lowest bid.

For this type of job, you need plans and specs from an Architectural/Engineering firm before thinking about contractors - and to get a building permit.
Ben's method would work and done incrementally could cost well over $100,000 plus as he says, but this not really the most economic way to approach this big a job. A House Mover or Foundation Underpinning specialty company can usually slide your house onto a whole new foundation, or jack it up on steel beams and hold it there while a basement is dug underneath it, without any intermediate piers. The jacking/move cost would probably be on the order of $30-40,000, and a new basement probably about $40-50,000 - rough ballpark, though I have been involved in some 1000-1500SF single story jobs that went for under $70,000 total.
I have been involved in a fair number of these type jobs - and the way the numbers come out, if there is room on the property to move the house, it is almost always nearly as cheap or cheaper to build an equivalent square footage (basement plus ground level) addition rather than add a basement under the house, and that way your new footage is half above ground so worth more on resale, plus you do not lose use of the house for a month or two. Second cheapest is usually sliding house to a new foundation, if property is large enough to do this - though house is totally cut off from utilities for a week to three. Most expensive, and usually only done in tight city environments or with full 2 story or higher houses, is adding the foundation in place, though your utility interruptions should be on the order of hours at a time rather than days or weeks.
Talk to an architect - I think you will quickly lean towards the addition option rather than adding a basement - it is just too expensive to deepen foundations in most cases, plus you WILL get cracking in the house and possible water and sewer pipe problems in a move/underpinning job, which is not the case with an addition. This become more likely the case since you want to add 8 feet off the back of the home anyway - so why not just enlarge the addition and do it all that way - MUCH simpler, and MUCH less disruption of your life, and you get much higher resale return on your investment.

Basement Remodeling reviews in Vian

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“

I can't describe how grateful we are to

of

and his amazing team for their hard work, professionalism and strong skills for our very difficult high end renovation that because of him is finally completed. His time line was always achieved. His promises never broken. What he promised us was done. The ...More team always showed up the second they were allowed to enter our condo building and would skip lunch if they had to and stay until last minute to finish the job. I felt like I had friends in my apartment not negligent contractors walking around and making a mess. They did an amazing job. They always cleaned after themselves and were so respectful. they never took advantage of us living in the city as many companies do just to charge you more because they think you can afford it.

is always honest and leads his team well. I recommend him to all my friends and coworkers. Honestly said there is no better construction company I had met and I moved and renovate many times

”

- Zhanna T.

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Rich

, his workers and contractors were all personable and professional. I was amazed at how the rough-in for the plumbing, running through the wall from the basement to the attic, was completed in a single morning - the plumbing team really knew their stuff.

, the backbone of the project, did the framing, ...More sheetrock, and painting with quiet competence. Electrical team, vinyl installers all wonderful, thoughtful and responsive to work with. The project was completed in just a few days, with minimal disruption to our home.”

- Ann W.

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This is a terrific contractor.

and

-- the owners -- are incredibly upfront and honest, and clearly communicated the job with me. We took several bids for the job, they were the lowest bid and offered the most concrete timeline for completion. I purchased all the bathroom fixtures, kitchen cabinets, ...More appliances, tile, etc. They were incredibly clear with me about when they needed items on site, and when to expect items to be installed etc., including providing me with a calendar of expected progress. I visited the house daily (we moved out for the renovation), and was able to speak with the project manager or subcontractors regularly.
When things went differently than planned -- with a 90+ year old house this was bound to happen -- they notified me immediately. For instance a crack was discovered in the masonry which needed to be repaired, the roof had more water damage than initially expected. In all cases, they called or emailed, took pictures to show me what the issues were, made sure I understood why there would be a delay or an additional cost.
The subcontractors and workers were all terrific. Many of them working 12+ hour days to make sure the job was done on time. My ONLY complaint is that the lead plumber was not quite as excellent as all of the other tradesmen. On inspection I discovered a few leaky connections under sinks, and dishwasher installed incorrectly. However,

and

had everything fixed within hours.
When a few weeks after we moved in the garbage disposal stopped working, they were there the next day to replace it (and this is well AFTER the job was completed! -- they provided a one-year warranty on all work, and have honored that warranty.
The work was completed in just under seven weeks, which was a short amount of time considering the scope of the project.
I would hire them again in a second -- one word of

is that they really pushed me to have all of my major design decisions made before the project started -- in other words have all tile layout, kitchen layout etc decided and agreed upon in the beginning so that they were never waiting on me to make design decisions. This worked out well for me, and allowed for a fast turnaround on the job.”

- Colin B.

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Excellent. My initial email requested was promptly followed up with a phone call and scheduling of a time to provide an estimate. We briefly discussed options and a written estimate was provided a few days later. After agreeing to the work and paying the deposit, the house was power washed and prepped for painting. A large crew came each day and worked ...More all day long. The house was fully painted in a couple of weeks. There was one minor miscommunication regarding the color the trim, but it was promptly addressed and the house looks beautiful.”

- Susan B.

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Perfect! They do good work, and they're very friendly, competent, and professional. We're quite satisfied with the finished product.”

- Henry F.

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In February of 2014 we interviewed 4 contractors for the first phase of a 2 part construction project. The first phase consisted of converting an existing bedroom into a new master bath and converting the existing master bath and adjacent small walk-in closet into a large walk in closet. We needed to remove 1 window in the master bedroom and replace ...More the existing window in the new bathroom with a long high narrow window. We wanted to replace all the existing trim and doors. We would finish the floor and all the closet infrastructure ourselves.
We chose

to complete the project. We were assured that the project should take 8 weeks, 10 weeks at most. We were wanting to start the project the last week in march, however, it wasn't started until April 6. Instead of 8 to 10 weeks, the project took over 14 weeks to complete.
We were very pleased with the final outcome of the project, the materials, the attention to detail. The subcontractors were all trustworthy and friendly and sensitive to our needs. Our Project manager was extremely knowledgable and cared very much about producing a quality product. He went above and beyond the requirements for us and helped us through some rough spots in the process.
Our biggest negative comment would be the time line which was excessive!
We also were not pleased with the bidding process as project costs were never given and we didn't know what our allowances were on several major items. We wanted to upgrade several items, but we never really knew what the actual costs were for the basic materials, so consequently, we never really knew where we stood on the budget. That said, our costs overruns were less than 5% of our total, which we were satisfied with.

”

- BETH R.

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My wife and I own a pair of beautiful beach houses in Corolla NC that we rent out on a weekly basis to families who want a great vacation. One sleeps 14 the other 20. When we purchased our original OBX house we inherited

Firestone from our Realtors and friends

and

.

...More is one of the best house warming gifts anyone could have given us. He has handled everything from screen replacement and painting to a six figure whole house renovation without an issue. I trust not only the quality of his work but the honesty of his opinion and have recommended him to friends in both of the subdivisions where we own homes. Owning rental property from 450 miles away isn’t easy but as a long time property owner I can tell you when you find a quality contractor with integrity hold on to him.

has my highest recommendation.
If you want to see examples of his work I rent my homes through ShorelineOBX and they are Whl-21 Ha-Sea=

& Spin-1 On Sail in their rental system.”

- Kevin C.

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is the best contractor I have ever worked with. He had great design ideas. He listened to our suggestions and incorporated everything seamlessly. He was very responsive. More than once he stopped by on a Saturday or Sunday to answer questions for us. He was easy to contact via e-mail as well. The quality of the work was ...More excellent. I recommend

and his company highly. Stop looking for another contractor. You've found the right guy for your remodeling project.